Reprinted  from  Journal  of  the  New  England  Water  Works 
Association,  Vol.  XXIX,  No.  4. 


Copyright,  1915, 
By  the  New  England  Water  Works  Association. 


THE  PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE  CATSKILL 
WATER  SUPPLY  FOR  XEW  YORK  CITY. 

BY 


J.  WALDO  SMITH, 

Chief  Engineer,  Board  of  Water  Supply,  New  York  City. 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


New  England  Water  Works  Association. 

ORGANIZED  1882. 


Vol.  XXIX.  December,  1915.  No.  4. 

This  Association,  as  a  body,  is  not  responsible  for'  the  statements  or  opinions  of  any  of  its 

members. 


THE  PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE  CATSKILL  WATER 
SUPPLY  FOR  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

BY  J.  WALDO  SMITH,  CHIEF  ENGINEER,  BOARD  OF  WATER  SUPPLY, 

NEW  YORK  CITY. 

[Read  September  7,  1915.] 

Ten  years  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  welcome  the  members  of 
this  Association  to  New  York  as  they  gathered  for  their  annual 
convention  some  three  months  after  the  organization  of  the  Board 
of  Water  Supply,  when  the  engineering  force  numbered  only 
twenty-five.  Since  that  time  the  work  has  progressed  to  a  maxi- 
mum where  the  yearly  expenditure  was  twenty-six  million  dollars, 
with  an  engineering  force  of  about  1  320,  and  the  time  is  now  near 
when  the  city  can  utilize  this  great  improvement.  The  maxi- 
mum expended  in  any  one  month  was  $3  900  000,  and  the  maxi- 
mum amount  earned  on  any  one  contract  in  a  month  was  $473  000. 
The  maximum  amount  earned  on  all  contracts  in  a  single  year 
was  $19  500  000,  and  there  have  been  six  years  when  the  earnings 
were  in  excess  of  $10  000  000.  The  total  expenditures  to  date  are 
$127  300  000,  and  obligations  undertaken  and  nearly  completed 
for  $8  300  000,  or  a  total  of  $135  600  000.  No  contract  in  a  total  of 
$99  965  000  has  been  relet,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  no  surety 
company  has  been  called  on  to  advance  money.  In  order  to 
furnish  necessary  data  for  the  location  of  structures  and  the 
preparation  of  contracts,  forty-six  miles  in  depth  of  borings  were 
made.  The'  first  construction  contract  for  eleven  miles  of  aque- 
duct was  ready  to  advertise  in  October,  1906. 

481 


S(f5 

482       PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE    CATSKILL  WATER  SUPPLY. 

The  present  status  of  the  work  is: 

The  construction  work  of  the  Ashokan  Reservoir  is  substan- 
tially completed,  and  there  remain  only  grading  and  grassing, 
some  highway  and  bridge  work,  the  superstructures  of  the  gate 
chambers  and  the  aeration  basin  to  be  done.  Water  has  been 
stored  in  the  West  Basin  since  September,  1913,  and  in  the  East 
Basin  for  about  one  year.    Much  water  has  been  wasted  during 


$  30.000.000. 


1905  06 


'07 


"08 


'09 


10 


i  i 


12 


'13 


'14 


1915 


9  25,949.000 


25000.000. 


20000000. 


15.000.000 


10,000.000 


5.000.000.- 


1905 


06 


'07 


'08 


B 


'09 


'10 


W.S  annual  dk'burserrents 


Rial  to  o'ate  9 VI, 000,002. 


'12 


*I3 


'14 


1915 


Total  estimated  cost  of  Gdtskill  Water  Supply* 177.000.000 
Fig.  1. 

Diagram  of  the  annual  expenditures  to  date  of  the  Board  of  Water  Supply 


this  year  and  there  is  still  in  store  about  80  billion  gallons  of  a 
total  of  128  billion  gallons.  This  reservoir  will  furnish  a  daily 
supply  of  not  less  than  250  million  gallons,  and  investigations  are 
now  under  way  for  other  reservoirs  to  increase  the  capacity  to  not 
less  than  600  million  gallons  per  day.  The  capacity  of  this 
reservoir  is  over  20  per  cent,  greater  than  that  of  all  the  reser- 
voirs in  the  Croton  watershed.  The  construction  work  on  the 
aqueduct,  92  miles  long,  will  be  completed  in  October,  and  more 


Plate  XXV. 

N.  E.  W.  W.  ASSOCIATION. 

VOL.  XXIX. 

SMITH  ON 
NEW  YORK  WATER  SUPPLY. 


Fig.  1. 

The  site  of  the  Ashokan  Dam  as  it  existed  ten  years  ago,  the  location  of  the 
dam  being  at  the  left  of  the  picture,  around  the  bend. 


Fig.  2. 

The  Ashokan  Dam  as  it  exists  to-day.  This  picture  is  taken  very  nearly 
from  the  same  point  as  Fig.  1 . 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/presentstausofcaOOsmit 


SMITH. 


483 


than  half  of  it  has  been  carefully  tested.  Recent  hydraulic 
experiments  have  disclosed  that  its  capacity,  making  a  reasonable 
allowance  for  loss  due  to  growths  which  may  accumulate  in  years 
of  use,  is  about  600  million  gallons  per  day.  Recent  measure- 
ments of  leakage  of  two  of  the  principal  pressure  tunnels,  the 
Rondout  and  Wallkill,  each  4J  miles  long,  showed  for  the  Rond- 
out,  with  230  ft.  unbalanced  head  or  outward  pressure,  70  gal. 
per  minute,  and  for  the  Wallkill,  with  150  ft.  outward  pressure, 
32  gal.  per  minute.    A  preliminary  test  of  3^  miles  of  the  city 


men    J906   '07    '08  '09 

*  2.500 000,-t- 25.000 


2.000.000^-20.000 


'10 


14  1915 


500.000—  15000 


1000  000. 


50000O- 


ioood 


5  000 


This  diagram  shows  the  maximum  monthly  earnings  by  contractors, 
reaching  the  maximum  of  about  S2  200  000  in  1911 ;  the  contractors'  working 
force,  reaching  a  maximum  of  about  17  000;  and  the  engineering  force,  at  the 
bottom,  which  reaches  a  maximum  of  about  1  325. 


pressure  tunnel  between  93d  Street  and  25th  Street,  with  250  ft. 
outward  pressure,  showed  a  leakage  of  90  gal.  per  minute,  and 
if  this  follows  the  example  of  the  other  similar  tunnels,  will  show 
a  substantial  reduction  with  time. 

Construction  work  of  the  Kensico  Reservoir  will  be  so  far  com- 
pleted at  the  end  of  the  year  that  it  may  be  entirely  filled  about 
four  years  ahead  of  the  contract  time. 


484       PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE    CATSKILL  WATER  SUPPLY. 

The  construction  work  of  Hill  View  Reservoir,  a  small  equalizing 
reservoir  at  the  entrance  of  the  city  pressure  tunnel,  will  be  com- 
pleted in  October.  The  construction  work  of  the  city  pressure 
tunnel,  18.1  miles  long,  the  longest  tunnel  in  the  world,  and  vary- 
ing in  finished  diameter  from  15  to  11  ft.,  is  nearing  completion. 
The  tunnel  proper  is  completed,  with  the  exception  of  tests. 
There  remains,  however,  much  detailed  work  in  and  at  the  top 
of  shafts  connecting  it  with  the  distribution  system.  The  sub- 
merged pipe  line  across  the  Narrows  promises  completion  by  the 
end  of  the  year,  and  the  reservoir  on  Staten  Island  is  in  an  ad- 
vanced stage  of  construction. 

For  the  6.3  miles  of  steel  pipe  siphon,  only  one  pipe  has  been 
laid;  the  other  two  will  be  added  when  the  reservoir  capacity  is 
increased.  Studies  for  a  filtration  plant  are  now  under  way,  but, 
if  built,  this  cannot  be  completed  before  1920. 

Since  the  Association  met  here  in  1905,  the  work  has  progressed 
without  misadventure  or  serious  accident,  so  it  is  confidently 
expected  that  by  January  1,  1916,  it  will  be  in  the  condition  of  a 
very  large  machine  with  very  many  working  parts,  which  have 
just  been  assembled  for  the  first  time,  and  which  has  not  been 
adjusted  or  tested.  Some  of  the  parts  of  the  machine  are  neces- 
sarily of  new  and  untried  design  to  satisfy  conditions  never  before 
met.  And  the  problem  that  will  then  confront  us  on  January  1, 
1916,  is  the  adjustment  and  test  of  this  machine,  the  smoothing 
of  the  gears  and  bearings,  the  replacement  or  modification  of  the 
parts  which  do  not  properly  perform  their  functions,  the  training 
of  the  operating  force,  the  thorough  adjustment  and  trial  of  the 
entire  plant,  and  the  tuning  up  and  synchronizing  of  all  the  work- 
ing parts,  to  the  end  that  the  operation  may  be  safe,  smooth,  and 
continuous.  It  is  believed  that  this  may  require  all  of  the  year 
1916,  although  undoubtedly  at  times  water  from  the  Catskills 
will  be  delivered  into  the  distribution  system. 

When  it  is  considered  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  total 
supply  will  be  delivered  directly  into  the  pipes  without  any  inter- 
vening reservoir  and  that  a  pumped  supply  of  about  200  million 
gallons  daily  will  be  discontinued  and  the  men  laid  off,  it  will  be 
realized  that  everything  in  connection  with  the  gravity  supply 


Plate  XXVI. 

N.  E.  W.  W.  ASSOCIATION. 
VOL.  XXIX. 
SMITH  ON 
\F.\V  YORK  WATER  SUPPLY. 


Fig.  1. 

One  of  the  bridges,  this  particular  one  being  the  Traver  Hollow  Bridge 
on  Ashokan  Reservoir  road  system. 


Fig.  2. 


Another  bridge  carrying  a  state  highway  across  the  Kensico  Reservoir. 


Plate  XXVII. 

N.  E.  W.  W.  ASSOCIATION. 
VOL.  XXIX. 
SMITH  ON 
NEW  YORK  WATER  SUPPLY. 


Fig.  1.  This  picture  shows  one  of  the  risers  which  comes  up  through  a 
shaft  of  the  city  tunnel,  the  view  being  of  the  inside  of  one  of  the  chambers. 
The  shaft  cap  and  valves  on  either  side  are  of  solid  bronze,  and  the  cap  is 
riveted  directly  to  the  riser  pipe  which  comes  up  the  shaft.  On  either  side 
connections  will  be  made  to  the  distribution  system. 


Fig.  2.  A  completed  siphon  chamber.  There  is  such  a  chamber  at  each 
end  of  each  steel  pipe  siphon.  In  the  distance  you  see  the  downstream 
chamber  for  the  same  siphon. 


SMITH. 


485 


must  be  made  as  perfect  and  safe  as  possible,  and  that  the  esti- 
mated time  of  a  year  is  none  too  long. 

When  the  work  is  so  far  completed  that  water  can  safely  and 
continuously  be  delivered  to  the  distribution  system,  the  main- 
tenance and  operation  of  that  portion  will  devolve  on  and  be 
directed  by  the  Department  of  Water  Supply. 


